[Brucealeg]

Hi all,
New to the forum and Volvo as the T8 Extended is my first Volvo. I wanted a vehicle with decent MPG and performance and I think I found it. My SUV hasn’t been flash for normal driving, its still in dealer mode.

That said, I noticed my MPG sucks. I reset the trip and drove in hybrid thinking good things would happen, but I am 14-24MPG. I understand hard driving hurt economy, but I am just normal driving for break in. Nothing I do seem to make the MPG really go up. It’s like I am not even at the gas version listed numbers.

Tuesday I get the software update for customer use and I hope its that simple, but the sales guy was a little worried that it should be better also.

Side question, why doesn’t the Sun visor extend lol. I cant keep the sun off my face when used with the driver door. I’ve never seen a visor not extend.

Thanks all, happy to be here.

Bruce

 

[eugr]

Have you charged your car at all? The worst you can do in terms of fuel economy in a plug-in hybrid is to make short city trips with empty battery.

 

[Brucealeg]

Have you charged your car at all? The worst you can do in terms of fuel economy in a plug-in hybrid is to make short city trips with empty battery.

The battery is kind of struggling to charge. If it says full charge by X time, doesn’t seem like thats happening. It’s a 2 days old, so i am trying to let it charge to full. While driving todays it had 25% battery, i reset mpg and it was just horrid mpg. Not aggressive at all. Not even XC90 gas MPG from what i can see.

 

[ChrisZX]

Our new T8 ER is about 1 month old. We do a lot of around-town type of driving, so it normally stays electric only, in which case MPG goes way up since it appears that the computer counts mileage on electric as part of gas only MPG (almost sounded like electricity is free, I wish). As the result, our consumption has been staying around 55MPG.

With that said, the highway MPG with gas only and battery charge on hold is around 25 or so depending on your speed, terrain, and traffic pattern. I wouldn't be surprised that it goes down to the teens if the battery isn't providing much range. Therefore, the real question is why you battery is very low. From my experience, a full charge will take about 11hrs using 110V or 6amps on 240V (we have a charger can adjust output voltage). If you use the factory charger on 240, you should be fully charged in about 5hrs from empty.

 

[Brucealeg]

Thanks, battery is low because it’s new. I got it empty. I just didn’t think the gas part would come in lower then the native gas platform. I did get some charge in today and mpg went up. I also need more regenerative charging mode i think.

 

[SpeeeedWagon]

Thanks, battery is low because it’s new. I got it empty. I just didn’t think the gas part would come in lower then the native gas platform. I did get some charge in today and mpg went up. I also need more regenerative charging mode i think.

I mean, it sounds like you're just using the gas engine, but lugging around a bunch of batteries too. Of course it's going to be lower. Gotta charge it up, man!

 

[Brucealeg]

I mean, it sounds like you're just using the gas engine, but lugging around a bunch of batteries too. Of course it's going to be lower. Gotta charge it up, man!

I didn’t expect the battery to take me from 17 to 50.

 

[FusionRedXC60]

A fair test of MPG is to run a long trip on freeway. Should be around 27-29mpg.
For short trips in city, a heavy car with empty battery will not get good MPG. It is recommended to charge it nightly so as to burn less fuel during the day.

An ultimate gas saver car would be hybrid car with low power Atkins or Miller cycle engine, light weight body and smaller size. Volvo doesn't make such model though.

 

[mainsail]

An ultimate gas saver car would be hybrid car with low power Atkins or Miller cycle engine, light weight body and smaller size. Volvo doesn't make such model though.

I remember several years ago that Volvo took a look at the Atkinson cycle. If I recall, some university students did the development and testing and what they came up with was a surprise. The best they could do was a 3% gain in efficiency which was judged to be not worth it.

 

[FusionRedXC60]

I remember several years ago that Volvo took a look at the Atkinson cycle. If I recall, some university students did the development and testing and what they came up with was a surprise. The best they could do was a 3% gain in efficiency which was judged to be not worth it.

Anyhow, Atkinson engine is used by Toyota on all of their small hybrid cars.
Recently a Miller cycle engine in Geely Leishen Hi-X powertrain (with Volvo/AuroBay support I assume) is claiming 43% efficiency and powering a sub-compact PHEV sedan in China, and a compact hybrid SUV, and more to come.

 

[Pretorien]

Or perhaps this whole PHEV business is today's version of the Hula Hoop.

 

[FusionRedXC60]

Or perhaps this whole PHEV business is today's version of the Hula Hoop.

It is not ideal, but very realistc trade-off. And can be used lots of years as long as gasoline is still available

Sent from my moto g power (XT2041DL) using Tapatalk

 

[rfkuehn]

With that said, the highway MPG with gas only and battery charge on hold is around 25 or so depending on your speed, terrain, and traffic pattern.

 

[rfkuehn]

Is “Hold” mode effectively the same as driving a conventional/full hybrid, like so many Toyotas? Battery drops a bit, charges a bit, but not terribly much capacity to draw on?

 

[rfkuehn]

Or perhaps this whole PHEV business is today's version of the Hula Hoop.

I think the cost + complexity caused PHEV to not get so big. But it’s what I’m aiming for next year - definitely want a plug for daily use, but also ICE for long family roadtrips. But I think the use case is relatively narrow.

 

[CDubbsDT]

I was holding off on sharing impressions until the first 1000 miles. Should hit that tomorrow.
For science, I used the horribly inefficient "charge mode" while driving on the interstate. 2022.5 ER XC90 with the 21" wheels.

While charging:
Around 65MPH, I got 23-24 MPG on the flats.
At around 85MPH, I got 17-18 MPG.

From "0" battery, it charged to just over 50% in 100 miles.

When running in hybrid mode on the expressway with good charge, I was seeing about 55MPG.

 

[CDubbsDT]

 

[FusionRedXC60]

I think the cost + complexity caused PHEV to not get so big. But it’s what I’m aiming for next year - definitely want a plug for daily use, but also ICE for long family roadtrips. But I think the use case is relatively narrow.

For use case, you drive it anywhere any time any other cars can go, and you save as much as fuel you want.
I'd not call it narrow use case.

As of complexity, it is in the hands of the builders. As long as parts quality is high, and assembled correctly, I don't see much complexity in my daily driving, just more fun.
Once a happy driver, you will forget anything under the hood. Yeh, I have not looked under it even once.

High cost is true, but not much more than other luxury cars. It is not popular among low price cars for sure.

 

[rsfpc05]

I doubt the car is in dealer mode like you say. I couldn’t even test drive my car while it was in dealer mode because it’s MPH limited

 

[jtriebe]

I've had my 2022.5 for a month and a half now, having owned a 2017 XC90 T6 prior to this car that gave me over 53,000 trouble free miles. That car averaged 23.2 mpg with a range of 18 to 28 mpg (I tracked the fuel economy of Fuelly). The last time I filled my new car, it had 3,561 miles on it and I had put a total of 122.375 gallons in it. That works out to an average of 29.09 mpg. Of those 3,561 miles 2,900 were done in multi-day long trips (1,400 and 1,500 miles) in which I was unable to recharge the car at night. On the 1,500 mile trip, the car had two passengers, and close to a ton of "cargo" and was done in part facing 30+mph headwinds. The rest of my driving has been around town on short jaunts where I was able to recharge nightly. I have only driven in Hybrid mode, but around town I judiciously use the B and D modes. On the long trips, much of it was done on interstates at 70-75 mpg, but on occasion I've been in the 90's (easy to do when you put your foot down when passing a slowpoke). This is a round trip I took yesterday driving my wife to Sea-Tac airport. The temperature was low 40's and half the trip was on hilly back roads:

So from my perspective, my PHEV is ideal for me and my wife who enjoy taking a couple long driving trips each year. And I'm more than happy with my fuel economy to date. As much as I loved my T6, the new car is a big step up in terms of performance, fuel economy and quietness.